In September 2020, we brought you the Fallout: Wasteland Warfare digital companion, the most comprehensive app of its kind.  Originally a hobby project by a fan of the game, the app has continued to grow and add value to both new and existing players.  As we get ready for the release of Wave 5, we asked Jamie, the app's creator, to tell us about everything the app has to offer.  So here it is, straight from the Brahmin's mouth.

When most people think of companion apps for wargames, they think about list builders - apps like BattleScribe, which help to manage the plethora of options available to players.  And true enough, this is part of what you get with the official Fallout: Wasteland Warfare mobile app, so let's look at that first.

Companion App on the Apple Store

Companion App on the Google Play Store

Force Builder

Veterans of the app will tell you that it provides so much more than just a list builder, but it would be remiss of me not to talk about it, since it's probably the first thing people are looking for in a digital companion.

When building your force for a Battle Mode game, there is inevitably a lot of cross referencing of points costs, allowed equipment and stat blocks for units and weapons.  This can make it hard to experiment with different loadouts for a tournament, when you want to squeeze every last point out of your force.  The app is kept up to date with new points values and equipment lists as they are released and gives you quick access to all of the stats you need to make a decision, whether it's Laser Rifle vs Hunting Rifle or Radroach vs Super Mutant Behemoth.

You also get a much easier way to find viable options with the ability to filter equipment by type or search for a specific item.  No more sifting through a thousand cards to find the one item you want.

And if you prefer a little chaos, you can even generate a random force for a given points size, leaving you with just enough points to customize perks and equipment.  However you decide to create your force, when you're done you can share it with friends either as a PDF or straight to another device via a QR code.  And you can even add that personal touch by renaming your units or taking a custom photo to be displayed on your unit card.

Battle Tracker

There are many ways to dispatch your enemies in Fallout: Wasteland Warfare: bullets, radiation, fire, poison and more.  On the tabletop, these effects are represented by tokens deposited at the base of the model as the battle rages on.  Keeping track of these tokens can be problematic, especially when lots of units are wrapped up in a swirling melee.  The Battle Tracker lets you easily assign damage, status effects and more to a unit.  Got a unit with Power Armor?  The app will automatically assign damage to that first and tell you when it is degraded.  Got a Stimpak?  Use items like this directly from the unit status screen to remove damage.  And there's no more having to check every perk and item card to figure out what your final health total is - the app does that too, adjusting your health down as you take damage, so you never have to worry about forgetting that +2 health bonus from the Veteran Leader card again.

Even better, the Wasteland decks are all right there, ready for you to draw a card on demand.  No more stacks of cards by the side of the battlefield, waiting for an errant D20 to knock them down.

One of the benefits of physical cards is seeing the information you need at a glance, rather than having to switch screens in an app.  We've got you covered, here, too.  Tap on any weapon from the Unit Status page and it will give you a list of opposing units to target, with the correct skill value, armor values, and all of the status effects you might want to change on a successful hit.  Need to test your Battle Cry skill versus a target's resist?  The app can show you both skill values at a glance so you don't have to flip back and forth.

And when you play against AI (as many of us have been doing for the past year) the app can tell you exactly what an AI model will do in its next turn by looking at the model's current health, rolling the blue die and consulting the decision matrix for you.  It even gives you a quick reference to the AI action so you don't need to stop the battle to consult the rulebook.

Settlement Tracker

One of the most rewarding parts of the Fallout universe is setting up a settlement and watching it grow from a tiny cluster of survivors to a thriving town.  As intricate as the rules are for building a settlement, it can leave some players confused when it comes to figuring out which items you can keep from one battle to the next.  This is where the Settlement Tracker comes into play!  It automates most of the tasks required to run a settlement, whether that's tracking your caps stash, drawing random items, exploring the wasteland or picking which items to take into battle.  It guides you through each settlement stage, allowing you to use buildings at the appropriate time, automatically adjust your power usage, and even resolve encounters with a single button press.  It used to be a time consuming task to arrange cards into decks, update your settlement sheet and calculate every cap spent or earned.  Now it's a simple post-battle update that takes no more than a few minutes for even the most complex settlement.

RPG Character Builder

The Fallout: Wasteland Warfare RPG supplement lets you customize your units even further, with an Overseer guiding the story from one battle to the next, bringing a host of new options for in and out of combat encounters.

The app now supports building your character with all the same bells and whistles you get from the Force Builder, before taking your character into combat using the Battle Tracker.  The cost of new skills and perks is automatically calculated for you, making it easy to experiment with different options as you gain XP.

Scenarios

The tutorial scenarios are great for introducing new players to the game, but can be a pain to set up due to the custom Wasteland deck and specific force requirements.  Thankfully, you can set up any of the tutorial scenarios in the Battle Tracker with a single button press, as well as a growing number of other scenarios, including the recent Vestiges Resurgent trilogy.

Library

Some people prefer physical tokens and cards when playing a game, and that's fine.  But every now and then you need to look up an item or perk, and sifting through your disorganized stack of cards can take forever.  Maybe you have all of your cards alphabetized in a folder, in which case you are a better Wastelander than I.  For the rest of us, the library part of the app gives you an easy, quick reference to every card in the game.

How Much Does It Cost?

The basic app is free, and comes with everything you get in the core box set - units, items, quests and more.  To build forces beyond the core box, additional cards need to be purchased in packs that align to the physical releases.  Most waves are about a third of the cost of the physical cards, and you can see a detailed breakdown of what you get in the app before you buy.

If you just want everything, then you might prefer the subscription, which gives you access to almost £50 worth of content for less than the price of a coffee each month. With every new release the value of the subscription grows and you can even try it out for free for 7 days to decide whether it's right for you.

Even if you don't want to pay for the digital cards, you can still find every unit, perk, leader card and item for free in the library, regardless of whether you own it or not.  The Fallout: Wasteland Warfare app can help all players enjoy the game just a little bit more, whether you're only after a quick reference guide or all the bells and whistles. 

Companion App on the Apple Store

Companion App on the Google Play store